This blog is an exploration of principled problem solving which is an initiative at Guilford College encouraging a focus of people's abilities and experiences toward solving real-world problems under the guidance of the college’s core values of community, diversity, equality, excellence, integrity, justice and stewardship.

December 2013

12/19/2013

As someone interested in studying abroad in Ghana, I got very excited when I heard that Emma Lovejoy was giving a presentation on her experience studying abroad in Ghana last spring. My mother grew up overseas and two of the countries she lived in were Uganda and Somalia, and so I have always wanted to travel to Africa, specifically East Africa. However I know that out of the more than 365 countries the Guilford Study abroad office offers programs in, Ghana was a more viable choice. This is because not only is it an amazing program, but it is a faculty lead program, which means that the cost is that of a normal semester at Guilford plus airfare. And you get to travel with other Guilford students, but stay in homestays where you really become immersed in the culture. Considering all of this, I was already very interested in studying abroad in Ghana. So I went into the presentation hoping to learn enough that my questions would be answered and I would decide to study in Ghana next spring.

Emma presented in King 127, the Multicultural Resource Center (MRC) on Tuesday September 10th at 7pm. She had a presentation and a table full of beautiful cloth and beads and other cultural pieces. In attendance was her aunt and uncle, the faculty advisor, Bob Williams, Daniel Diaz from the Study Abroad Office, and Jorge Zeballos, Director for Diversity training and development in the MRC. In attendance as well were two exchange students from University Cape Coast in Ghana, and of course Guilford college students interested in studying abroad in Ghana in the future.

This presentation was a perfect example of Guilford’s core values Community. Emma brought many communities together for her presentation, for example: the community of students interested in studying abroad, the students already committed to studying abroad in Ghana this spring, the MRC community, the Study Abroad community, the community of Cape Coast exchange students, and others. Not only did she have people who have direct connections to Ghana attend her event, but other community members who are interested in Ghana attended without having a personal connection to Emma or the MRC. And then there were the people who had very personal connections like the two exchange students, who were then able to help us build a community of people in the room who cared about this trip. They were able to inform us about aspects of the country that even Emma was unsure about, because they had lived in Ghana their entire lives, whereas Emma spent around 4 months there. I saw fliers all over campus about her presentation, and got multiple emails and saw her entry in the daily buzz. For a campus where it is quite difficult to get students to care and make efforts to attend events, the community turnout was awesome.

Through her presentation I learned much about the community she formed in Ghana as well. She lived with a host family who became like a second family to her while she was there. She made friends at her University, and in the village she lived in. From what I understand, her trip to Ghana changed her life, and she is planning to return to visit her Ghanaian family this January! That alone certainly shows the deep level of community Emma built while studying abroad, and how she was able to translate this to her community at Guilford.

12/16/2013

Design thinking: Empathize. Define. Ideate. Prototype. Test.
Or, the “…systematic development of creative ideas that meet real needs in the
world.” This three-hour session at the Sullivan Social Entrepreneurship Retreat
led students and faculty members through the steps needed to try on the mindset
of a designer, specifically in the context of a designer guiding a client
through the process of figuring out what s/he actually wants. This session was
especially related to the topic of Ethics of Capitalism in my mind, because it
stressed the use of empathy to determine problems (a decidedly ethical
approach) – generally, capitalism relies on the business telling you what you
need/want, not the other way around.

The concept
of design thinking was broken down into five individual steps, listed
previously, the first of which was titled “Empathize”. This required the
“designer” to interview the “client”, and immerse themselves in the response,
observe the client’s reactions, and engage with them in an understanding
manner. For example, I interviewed a fellow Guilford student, David Wheaton,
about his college experience: he discussed his transfer from a large school to
a small one, the differences therein, and how he appreciated the open culture
of “thinkers” at Guilford. However, he brought to light some concerns about
diversity, specifically the diversity in athletics in relation to the diversity
of the school as a whole – in his perception, the school needs to bring in more
minorities who aren’t involved in
athletics. I had never analyzed the diversity of Guilford in that manner, so
his opinions were quite eye opening for me. After empathizing, the designers
took a step back to reframe the information gathered from the interview – they
“Define[d]” users, needs and insights in reference to what they discussed with
their clients. (David’s “user” was a junior economics major at a small liberal
arts university, his “needs/insights” were more minorities outside of
athletics, and in the school as a whole.

After
defining the various aspects of the problem brought to light by the interview,
the designers began to “Ideate”, the third step in the process. Through this,
the various groups of students brainstormed ways to help solve the previously
defined problems, with an emphasis on wild, visual ideas that built on the
ideas of the group rather than stemming from a single individual. Once a pool
of on-topic ideas had been formed, the groups were required to pick one idea
for a solution and “Prototype” it – they created a mock version of how the
problem might be solved, and illustrated it in front of the entire group of
“designers” at the conference (in this case, we all performed mini skits illustrating
the problem, and our ideas for a solution). This illustration was the final
step in the Design Thinking process, the “Test” phase, in which students were
encouraged to show their hastily created idea for a solution to the larger
group in the interest of receiving constructive feedback.

The most
useful portions of this session, for me, were the Prototype – Test phases.
Though most problem-solving ideas must go through a development process before
becoming reality, the facilitators of the conference placed a unique emphasis
on “messy” prototyping: basically, the less you develop an idea before you
present it to others, the more receptive you are likely to be to constructive
feedback. However, I felt that the empathize step related most to Ethics of Capitalism
as a whole: empathy is directly tied to ethics (without an understanding of
others, we would have no reason to develop an internal moral code to guide our
conduct in society, because it wouldn’t matter how we understood others and/or
were understood by others). Ethics, on the other hand, is usually completely
separate from modern capitalism, which places profit above all other
considerations; therefore, the fact that the Design Thinking process
highlighted the importance of empathy as the first step to solving a problem was refreshing for me.

12/13/2013

I sat in on an open Student Senate meeting on Monday, 10/1/13, which featured several topics of discussion. This was my experience.

Guilford has 7 core valuyes, one of which is Community. Guilford’s core value of community emphasizes a student-orientated space for learning. It also represents an accepting space for people to feel safe and voice their concerns, comments, and questions. Guilford emphasizes community so that people will feel comfortable and even obligated to get involved with clubs, sports, teams, student government, or even just put fourth extra effort in classes. This relates quite directly with the Student Senate for several reasons. One, student government is a form of community, as it gets students involved in their education. Two, it allows even those students not involved in Senate to voice concerns or even just get informed. And of course student government involves direct student-staff interaction and exchanges that allow students to help direct their education. Lastly, student government can help alleviate any sense of alienation a student might feel toward the faculty and staff.

The Student Senate was structured as a debate centered space. There were multiple topics under discussion that evening, and each one started with people (students and staff) involved in that particular issue giving an overview of information. Then a debate was opened and people gave ideas about how to handle the issue. I arrived a few minutes late, so I can’t speak for an introduction ceremony, but at the end of the senate meeting there was a closing session that seemed ceremonial, but didn’t add anything new to the meeting. The structure of the meeting was very democratic and communal, as everyone was offered a chance to express their opinions and ideas on each topic after the expert speaker laid out the current situation and problems. The professor who coordinated the meeting acted more as a moderator and a scheduler, someone to keep speeches within a reasonable time limit. He did not try to direct the debates, however, and he was able to keep the meeting running smoothly for the sake of the people there. The debates themselves were very student centric, which relates directly to the value of community, as the Senate was a direct example of a community event.

If A.P.S.A. cuts funding from departments, then some classes like the one shown may be canceled.

The main topic under discussion at the Student Senate meeting was the Administrative and Program Services Assessment Report (A.P.S.A.), a report on the student- faculty debate over budgeting for next year. A.P.S.A. has been a very controversial topic among the active student body for this year, and many people who went to the senate meeting fully expected the topic to come up. Several students at the Senate meeting had a lot of prior knowledge and experience of and with A.P.S.A., and they lead the debate. Most of the people there had very little information about A.P.S.A., and the debate was largely a question and answer session for the first couple of minutes. While I knew little about the topic before I went to the meeting, I learned a lot in the Senate Meeting. Several students who weren’t members of Senate voiced their concerns and by the end of the meeting everyone present had learned when they could continue debating and learn more about A.P.S.A. In total, the meeting was very informative, and at all times calm and respectful.

I would like to conclude by saying that the Student Senate meeting I attended was very informative in its own right. It was also a clear representation of Guilford’s core value of Community, as it was a student-faculty shared space were both groups could have a conversation about relevant issues. It was also a safe place for people to voice questions comments and concerns without fear of hostility, and where people would treat one and other with respect.

12/06/2013

The
Algernon Sullivan Sydney Foundation was founded in 1934 and their mission is to
inspire young people to lead their lives by helping others. The Foundation also
provides scholarships to students who are looking to promote Social
Entrepreneurship. Recently, the Algernon Sydney Foundation developed the
Sullivan Foundation Service and Social Entrepreneurship Program. This way they
can actively engage students, faculty, and staff in all different areas of
Social Entrepreneurship. Earlier this semester, I had the great opportunity to
attend the Sullivan Foundation Conference at Kanuga Conferences Inc. in
Hendersonville, North Carolina. I wanted the experience to learn and create new
ways of helping others with a business lens.

Saturday
night, after our long day of multiple sessions, Matthew Abrams (one of the many
facilitators) led the group in a brain meditation exercise. During the activity
we were supposed to “let go”, and let our brain take us 10 years into the
future. He asked us building questions along the way to get our creative juices
flowing. For instance, a series of questions he asked were, “Where are you
waking up?” “What clothes are you putting on? A suit? Casual clothes?” and
“Look around…who and what are you surrounded by at your workplace?” As we
progressed through the meditating activity I felt that I had an epiphany. In
that moment I realized what I wanted to do in life. I pictured myself working
with a lot of people and wearing a dressy suit to work. Then, it became clear
that I was working in a hotel/vacation industry. I loved it! My resorts I was
imagining were sustainable, welcoming, pet friendly and worldwide. In my vision
I was successful and comfortably wealthy…

Before I
attended this retreat, I did not know what I really wanted to do in life or
what I even had a passion about. The conference/retreat was about Social Entrepreneurship,
which easily coincides with Ethics of Capitalism. Both deal with the set of
moral principles that people should follow throughout their career. However,
the only real difference that I note is Capitalism is mostly based on creating
wealth and maintaining it. Honestly, I feel very strongly about using good values
in the business field and putting others before me, but I want to make money in
the long run to support my future family and I. The way I look at it is you
need to be able to support yourself financially before you can truly help
others.

12/03/2013

Diversity can create knowledge and understanding that is larger and goes deeper than what would be achieved without it. For example a person who comes from an urban area can better understand what goes on in a city than a person who lives in a rural area. While at the same time the person who lives in the country probably knows much more about things like agriculture. If these two people never interact then their worldviews will most likely be fairly narrow. However, if both the person from the city and the country come together, they have a better chance at viewing the world through a larger lens. This is advantageous because it can create an understanding that helps build a more unified community within the human race.

An, experience I have had at Guilford College relateed to diversity was something called a Cultural Competency Exercise done through the Bonner Center. I was told that I had to communicate with someone from another country who could not speak English. There were certain goals I had to accomplish such as figuring out where this man was from, telling him the name of my family members, and finding out what his favorite past time was. This exercise quickly showed me how difficult it was because not only could this man not speak English, but he also did not understand many of the cultural aspects I have as a white American. I learned that in order to communicate with him, I had to do some things that are universally understood. To help in this I drew pictures, acted out what I was trying to say, and even tried to understand some of his language. It was interesting that at first the exercise was rather awkward because this man did not understand anything I was trying to say. But as soon as I was finally able to make a connection with him about his name and on playing soccer he started being more responsive to the point where not only did I get my goals accomplished but he was helping me learn how to count in the language he speaks in Ghana.

I believe this exercise taught me a lot about diversity because I realized that no matter how different I may look or talk from someone else, there are certain things we all share. Sometimes all it takes is finding that one area where a connection happens with another person and then understanding has begun to build. Once I made that connection with my partner in the exercise I was able to get a better grasp of who he was and why. Not only did I understand better but also I was able to find out things about his culture that I preferred to mine such as how they treat the elderly in Ghana.

Sometimes I hear people talk about how we all just need to agree with each other and move on with our lives. However, this thought process is too simplistic. I find that on some issues I do not always think the same way within myself and the person I am now may disagree in certain areas with the person I will be five years from now. If this disagreement can happen so easily within each person then the idea that everyone can all just agree on everything with people who are extremely different than them just won’t happen. But this is okay! As long as basic things like human rights and needs such as nourishment that everyone has are met, then it’s good to be diverse and good to be different because it actually makes the world a better place. Diversity helps everyone to see the world with a wider lens and have a much fuller understanding of how things work.

Many atrocities committed today and throughout history have come across from either as a failure to understand someone different or a misrepresentation of who they really are. I believe that if humanity would embrace the idea of diversity and accept that people are different, our world would advance much faster. I learned a great deal about respect and communication from my partner in the exercise and those are things I can apply to my life today. If it is allowed to grow, I believe diversity can be one of our best teachers.